A low-carbon solution for affordable housing is to use earth and cement.
Durabric is an alternative to burnt bricks made by hand, which have led to a lot of trees being cut down in Africa, especially in Malawi. Durabric is made from soil, sand, cement, and water. The mixture is poured into a mold and compressed with hydraulic machines. LafargeHolcim’s research and development team focused on changing the recipe so that most types of soil can be used to make bricks that meet local standards. 14Trees is a part of the LafargeHolcim and CDC group that makes affordable building materials in Africa. It makes a lot of these bricks and can sell them to people and contractors all over Malawi because it has fixed plants in the two biggest cities, Blantyre and Lilongwe, and two mobile plants that make bricks in rural areas. Gold Standard has verified that using Durabric saves CO2, which led to the issuance of carbon credits. The money from these credits is used to grow the company’s reach in Malawi.
Positive facts about Durabric
Mechanical performance of the Durabric bricks usually reach 10-12 Mpa vs a norm requiring 3 to 5Mpa and artisanal burnt bricks reaching 1 to 2 Mpa
One production line can produce up to 2,000 bricks a day (the number of bricks needed for a simple house) and the capacity to reach 12,000 bricks a day with the existing equipment
Bricks are produced without the use of firewood, saving 14 trees for every simple house built in Malawi (thus the name of the company 14Trees producing these bricks)
A house made of Durabric contains 67% less CO2 than a house made of artisanal burnt bricks – certified by Gold Standard, the highest standard in terms of Voluntary Emission Reduction (VERs) credits
Over 3000000 bricks sold since the beginning, contributing to over 25000 tons of CO2 saved,
Building with Durabric is up to 20% cheaper versus conventional methods, have a perfect shape reducing the quantity of mortar needed and do not require plastering work
Durabric can be manufactured in rural areas using the mobile plants developed by 14Trees (containerized plants), allowing for job creation rural areas
Video about Durabric
https://www.youtube.com/embed/WdDcj6dKbxM?list=PLtsC0U6R1JRqlnpd7XZ3u36L3RdMla4Zy
Durabric website : https://http:durabric.com